We've completed a Reform/Transform analysis of policing policy in 12 cities.
Now more than ever, it is imperative that local elected officials step up to defend our communities.
They can do this by:
Divesting from policing and investing in community needs and community-led safety
Advancing reforms that reduce harm, disempower police, and increase accountability  
Bringing impacted community members to the decision-making table
Together, we can reimagine public safety to prioritize community needs and end our reliance on policing and incarceration
Intro

Introduction

Everybody deserves to be and feel safe. 

For too long, we’ve relied solely on policing while at the same time underinvesting in public housing, infrastructure, schools, and healthcare – which has caused decades of harm in Black and Brown communities. Together, we can change this. 

Real safety is when people have a place to live, a dignified job that provides economic security and access to opportunities, and the resources they need to care for themselves and their loved ones. We can create real safety by fully funding our communities and addressing the root causes of instability and violence. For decades, communities have been modeling and investing in ways that address root causes of harm and violence without law enforcement. Now, it’s time for local governments to invest in and help grow these community-led strategies to scale so their impact can be felt widely. 

At the same time, local governments have a responsibility and the authority to undo the harmful, discriminatory impact of policing and the criminal legal system. The criminalization of marginalized communities is a cornerstone of our nation’s justice system, and local governments must utilize their authority and oversight to reverse this shameful legacy. 

Reform/Transform: A Policing Policy Toolkit is a framework and policy roadmap supporting local elected officials in exploring and implementing safety solutions centered on community needs and priorities. The toolkit provides a simple, user-friendly framework for localities to evaluate policies across a dozen metrics ranging from oversight and change to department policies to limiting ICE collaboration. Much of the toolkit is dedicated to measures focused on harm reduction and restraining abusive and discriminatory policing. Yet this toolkit is also geared to aid officials in envisioning and implementing a proactive vision of community safety. New resources and policy metrics are continually being added to this effect.

Policies in this Toolkit

The purpose of this toolkit is to aid the courageous work of local elected officials—in close partnership with impacted community members, advocates, and organizers—to build real safety and end our over-reliance and over-investment in policing and incarceration.

The policies covered in this toolkit include:

  1. Independent Oversight
  2. Data and Transparency
  3. Transparency in Police and Civilian Encounters
  4. An End to the Co-optation of Local Law Enforcement for Federal Immigration Enforcement
  5. Demilitarization
  6. Pre-booking Diversion Programs
  7. An End to the School-to-Prison-and-Deportation Pipeline
  8. Bans on Bias-Based Policing
  9. Use of Force
  10. Property Seizure and Asset Forfeiture
  11. Investments in Public Safety Beyond Policing
  12. Creating a Community Responder Program


 

[1] The proliferation of state criminal statutes is striking. Michigan, for instance, has an estimated 3,102 crimes on its books, and on average created 45 crimes annually from 2008 to 2013. See: James R. Copland, Isaac Gorodetski and Michael J. Reitz, “Overcriminalization the Wolverine State: A Primer and Possible Reforms for Michigan,” Manhattan Institute and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, October 2014, http://www.manhattan-institute.org/pdf/ib_31.pdf, 1, 3. Similarly, California added 1,000 new criminal laws to its books in just one seven-year period in the late 1980s and early 1990s. See: Lenore Anderson, “In California’s Experience, It Isn’t Bigger Prisons that Crime Victims Want,” Penal Reform International, August 25, 2015, https://www.penalreform.org/blog/in-californias-experience-it-isnt-bigger-prisons-that/.
[2] The Editorial Board, “Donald Trump and the Undoing of Justice Reform,” The New York Times, February 17, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/opinion/sunday/donald-trump-and-the-undoing-of-justice-reform.html; “Criminal Justice One Year Into the Trump Administration,” Brennan Center for Justice, February 8, 2018,  https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/Criminal_Justice_One_Year_Into_the_Trump_Administration_0.pdf, 1,4
[3] The Editorial Board, “Donald Trump and the Undoing of Justice Reform”; “Criminal Justice One Year Into the Trump Administration,” Brennan Center for Justice, 3.
[4] The Editorial Board, “Donald Trump and the Undoing of Justice Reform”; “Criminal Justice One Year Into the Trump Administration,” Brennan Center for Justice, 1, 2.
[5] Mark Berman, “Trump tells police not to worry about injuring suspects during arrests,” The Washington Post, July 28, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/07/28/trump-tells-police-not-to-worry-about-injuring-suspects-during-arrests/?utm_term=.e9874c71e11b.
[6] Ordinance 37.81.17, Common Council of the City of Albany, https://www.albanyny.gov/Libraries/Common_Council_Agendas_and_Minutes/AUGUST_21_2017.sflb.ashx.
[7] Ordinance 125472, Seattle City Council, http://seattle.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=5695993&GUID=C5174925-176C-468C-9E00-2A471212AAE8.